Warm Food for the Snow Shovelers – Soup and Muffins

My loving spouse and 4 of the six children (oldest wasn’t here and youngest wasn’t forced into it) went out this morning to shovel several inches (8? 10?) of snow off of our walk, drive, cars, etc. So, while they were out, I did what I always do when someone goes out to shovel – I cooked. Today, it was cherry banana muffins (to go with hot chocolate right after the shoveling) and putting on a big pot of navy bean soup for dinner. By request, I post the recipes for both here!

Cherry Banana Vegan Muffins  

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of unbleached flour
2/3 cups raw sugar
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/3 t salt
1 cup water
1 t vanilla extract
6 T vegan butter (or oil)
3 ripe bananas
1 cup diced fresh cherries

Mix dry ingredients in bowl and gently toss in chopped cherries (be easy here or you’ll turn your muffins pink).  Mash bananas and add remainder of wet ingredients and mix.  Combine wet and dry ingredients gently.  Place in muffin tins with or without cupcake papers and bake at 350* until done (this took about 25 minutes for me).

Navy Bean Soup     

Ingredients
1 lb dry navy beans, rinsed and soaked overnight
3 large carrots or 2-3 cups baby carrots, sliced
3 stalks celery, sliced
1 large onion, diced
8 T of veggie bullion mix
(or 8 cubes if using cubed)
8 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all in large pan and cook on high until boiling vigorously and then lower heat and cook on medium until tender.  Age of beans will impact how long this takes, so give yourself plenty of time.  If they get done too early, you can always refrigerate and gently reheat.  When the beans are near done, you may also wish to add a couple cups of grain to complete the protein – barley or rice are good options.  I did this one tonight with arborio rice (which had not been added yet in the image above).  If you do not have any veggie bullion, add 1.5x the vegetables, and some minced garlic or garlic powder, tumeric, and a little more salt.

Both of these are very easy, though the bean soup does take a little time.  And, they are pretty perfect for a snowy day!